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If you think you have a choice of eight paths to follow… [and] you can’t see any real purpose in any of [them]. THEN – you MUST FIND A NINTH PATH.

– Hunter S. Thompson

About 9th path

Hello everyone,

My name is Todd Nelson and 9th Path is my personal website and blog.

Before 2015, I never considered myself a “writer,” but that all changed while crossing Romania by train. I was in a pitiful state during this sort-of epiphany, bleary-eyed, drinking instant coffee, staring out the window at a post-Soviet era countryside where all of the grain silos were dotted with rusted reds and browns.

On the train, I realized I’d been keeping journals for ten years, but had never read through them to understand what they meant. I began writing as a process of reflection. After digesting for over a year and writing my thoughts, I realized I should, at the very least, try to become good at this thing I was spending a lot of time doing.

My writing

This blog, and all of my writing in general, are in service of my personal mission, which is to bring timeless wisdom to the challenges of modern lives.

If I were to define my writing, I would say it represents the musings of a traveller a little lost at the intersection of a number of very different (but also incredibly compelling) paths: psychology, spirituality, morality, science, and philosophy. The writing flows in and out of these traditions and their porous boundaries, bringing in elements of personal narrative, bridging the ancient and the modern, sometimes with an activist-y bent, other times with no particular frame. Over the past few years, I’ve been particularly focused on two themes:

Re-exploring one’s relationship with religion

Healthy masculinity

If you like what you see, please consider signing up for the newsletter and following me on Twitter. If you want to continue the conversation, don’t hesitate to reach out, toddalexandernelson@gmail.com